The present invention relates in general to a dispensing container and more specifically to a disposable dispensing container for strip packages used to package and dispense medication. The dispensing container and packaging of this invention is an improvement over packaging in that it allows a strip package or packages of medication to be easily stored in strips that can be stored in a serpentine fashion within the dispensing container and dispensed from the container while the strip is in its serpentine arrangement. The container itself may be stored and carried within a drawer of a standard medication cart or "pill cart" typically utilized by pharmacists, nursing professionals, other professionals and facilities, including acute care facilities.
These "pill carts" have drawers typically dimensioned for the storage and transportation of 9".times.6" card packages of medication (e.g. "pill cards" or "blister cards"). A drawback of dispensing packaging and containers for strips of pills relates to the lack of an efficient means to daily dispense the medication from the pill strips to the patients as the size and drawer dimensions of pill or medication carts will not allow accommodation of other medical packaging or containers.
Preferred embodiments of the dispensing container of the present invention are dimensioned such that both single and multi-unit configurations of the present invention are capable of fitting within the confines of these "pill cart" drawers while still allowing easy access to the medication. The present invention overcomes another drawback of the packaging and pill strip dispensing systems by providing pharmacists, nursing professionals, and/or acute facilities with the option of dispensing strip packages of medication or card packages of medication from the same medication cart without having to modify the physical dimensions of the drawers themselves.
Current Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) regulations introduce another drawback into the packaging, storage and distribution of medications. These regulations may require that partially used multi-dose "pillcards" or "blister cards" cannot be re-used and must be destroyed. The unused individual pills on each "pillcard" can be re-used only if the cards are cut open and the pills re-packaged in a new "pillcard" with the required F.D.A. markings.
However, partially used strip packages of medication can be re-used without having to undergo the additional expenses of repackaging required with card packages of medication.